Banking Stocks Surprise Wrongfoots South African Money Managers

Banking Stocks Surprise Wrongfoots South African Money Managers

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Over-defensive South African money managers who have missed their performance benchmarks this year would be better positioned had they read signals that banking stocks were showing greater resilience than expected, according to Richard Schellbach, the equity strategist at Citigroup Inc. This time last year, the outlook for South Africa was starkly different, with the threat of economic recession looming, Schellbach said in an interview in Johannesburg. “But at the end of the…

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Namibia’s central bank maintains repo rate at 7%, inflation lower

Namibia’s central bank maintains repo rate at 7%, inflation lower

Windhoek (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia’s central bank left its benchmark repurchase rate steady at 7.0 percent, saying economic growth is expected to improve in 2017 after a slowdown this year and expected inflation to lower in 2017.   The Bank of Namibia, which raised its rate twice this year by a total of 50 basis points, said inflation rose to an average of 6.6 percent in the first 10 months of this year, up…

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Ghanaians Vote in Tight Election as Mahama Seeks Second Term

Ghanaians Vote in Tight Election as Mahama Seeks Second Term

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Voting is under way in Ghana as the nation decides whether to grant President John Mahama a second term in office or hand power to his main adversary, Nana Akufo-Addo, in a race observers, say is too close to call. The winner will face the task of reigniting growth in West Africa’s second-biggest economy while reining in inflation and consolidating public debt. Both Mahama, 58, and Akufo-Addo, 72, have pledged to build new infrastructure…

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Zambia to re-finance $2.8 billion Eurobonds in 2017, Nigeria targets 2.1 mln b/d in January

Zambia to re-finance $2.8 billion Eurobonds in 2017, Nigeria targets 2.1 mln b/d in January

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia plans to refinance Eurobonds totalling around $2.8 billion that it issued between 2012 and 2015, Finance Minister Felix Mutati said on Wednesday. “The strategy for the Eurobonds next year is refinancing. We want to refinance the Eurobonds and get longer dated bonds at a bit of lower cost so that we minimise our debt,” Mutati told reporters. Mutati said the equivalent of 19 percent of Zambia’s gross domestic…

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Nigeria’s President to submit 2017 fiscal budget to legislatures on Dec.14

Nigeria’s President to submit 2017 fiscal budget to legislatures on Dec.14

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari plans to submit next year’s spending plan to lawmakers on Dec. 14, according to a letter read to parliament on Tuesday, with government sources saying the 2017 budget would be 7.2 trillion naira ($23.65 billion). The record spending plan will seek to boost spending to help pull Africa’s largest economy out of its first recession in 25 years, caused largely by low global oil prices….

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Sub-Saharan Africa Region Remains Under Fiscal and External Pressures, says Fitch

Sub-Saharan Africa Region Remains Under Fiscal and External Pressures, says Fitch

LAGOS ( Capital Markets in Africa) – The Rating Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) sovereigns in 2017 remains Negative, reflecting continued weakness of fiscal and external balances, rising government debt, weak economic growth and, in some countries, risks of political instability, says Fitch Ratings in a new report. While commodity prices have regained some ground, many commodity exporters in the SSA are still running substantial budget and current account deficits and are facing financing strains…

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South Africa’s rand rallies, stocks slide to 10-month low

South Africa’s rand rallies, stocks slide to 10-month low

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s rand rallied to its firmest in nearly a month on Tuesday, brushing off a poor economic growth print as a weaker dollar and bets on improvement in commodity prices boosted appetite for emerging currencies. Stocks ended lower in a broad-based sell-off that sent the benchmark index to its lowest level in nearly 10 months as weaker metal prices pressured heavily weighted mining shares. By 1530 GMT the…

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